Early viewpoints considered religion to be associated with negative mental health or unfit to being observed by scientific practice. However, more recent research has suggested that religion not only may play an important role in determining mental health, but that the particular details of religion and parental religion, such as intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, strength of religious faith, and religious well-being, have not been examined thoroughly. The current study examined 486 undergraduate students and found that participant and perceived parental religiosity were correlated negatively with participants‘ internalizing and externalizing problems; extrinsic-social religiosity was correlated positively with participants‘ internalizing and externalizing problems; while extrinsic-personal religiosity had no correlation with participants‘ internalizing and externalizing problems. The findings also showed that participant and maternal religious well-being were significant predictors of internalizing problems, while participant and maternal religious well-being, paternal extrinsic-social religiosity, and participant extrinsic-personal religiosity were significant predictors of externalizing problems.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 80-90).

The problem of this study is the attempt to measure the religiosity of prison inmates and to determine if religiosity among prisoners may be more generally associated with certain types of crimes than with others such as homicide, assault, theft by violence, sex offenses, crimes against person and property, theft, embezzlement, and "other" offenses.

Religion and spirituality are thought to be of great importance for the meaning and quality of life for many individuals, and research suggests that there may be important health benefits associated with religion and spirituality. Religion and spirituality should be related to health behaviors for a number of reasons. Health behaviors are important contributors to an individual's overall health, illness and mortality. Major negative health behaviors related to health outcomes are smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, risky driving, and high risk sexual behaviors. Health behaviors may also be linked to personality traits. The key trait examined for this study was extraversion. It includes adjectives such as being active, assertive, energetic, outgoing, and talkative. In this thesis, I take several hypotheses and explore the influence of extraversion, religiosity, and spirituality on health behaviors.

Existing research has revealed a robust relationship between high religiosity and negative attitudes towards sexual minorities. To date, however, there have been few studies investigating this relationship within the membership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church). The unique history, doctrine, and organization of this religion, along with its large size, rapid growth, and sizable influence, indicate that a study of homophobia among church members will provide additional information about the relationship between religiosity and negative attitudes. These data will shed additional light on the make-up and nature of homophobia, offer insight into the relationship between religious and homophobic attitudes and behaviors, and better inform mental health professionals working with individuals identifying as members of the LDS Church, as members of a sexual minority, or as members of both groups. The following research includes the administration of a survey to college-age LDS church members gathering data regarding several dimensions of LDS religiosity, several dimensions of attitudes towards sexual minorities, and demographic data. Subsequent analysis of the gathered data has clarified the nature of the relationship between the measured dimensions of LDS religiosity and homophobia, specifically, that overall LDS religiosity correlates positively with negative attitudes towards sexual minorities, and that some individual dimensions of religiosity, particularly commitment to the LDS Church, are particularly predictive of negative attitudes.

The purpose of this study was to examine relations between adolescent religiosity and pornography use, and the roles of self-regulation, attitudes towards pornography, and social control as mediators of these relations. It was hypothesized that religiosity would protect adolescents from exposure to pornography by increasing their self-regulation capacity, their conservative attitudes about pornography, and their perceived social norms regarding pornography. The sample consisted of 419 adolescents (ages 15 - 18 years; M age = 15.68, SD = .98; 56% male) recruited online from across the U.S. Participants completed an online survey. All variables were bivariately associated as expected. Path models were used to examine the hypotheses regarding links between religiosity (religious internalization, religious involvement, and religious salience) and pornography use (purposeful and accidental) by way of mediators (self-regulation, attitudes towards pornography, and social control). This proposed model was partially supported by the analyses. Models without direct effects from the religiosity variables to pornography use fit the data as well as those with the direct paths, and thus the full mediation models were preferred (as they were more parsimonious). Religious salience had the strongest bivariate relationships while religious internalization revealed the most significant indirect paths. Religious involvement had the strongest indirect paths in the models. Attitudes towards pornography had the most effects as a mediator for purposeful pornography viewing, though all mediators played some role. For accidental pornography viewing, social control had the most effects, with attitudes towards pornography having no effect at all. The findings suggest that religiosity may protect adolescents from purposeful and accidental exposure to pornography, and that self-regulation, attitudes towards pornography, and social control may serve as mechanisms underlying these protective effects.

Previous research has found that religiosity is associated with psychological well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and life satisfaction), and this study sought to improve our understanding of this relation by examining two mediators: gratitude and social support. Additionally, this study sought to examine the effect of having been a custodial grandparent on social support and psychological well-being. These issues were examined using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and two subsets of participants from national samples (i.e., participants from the MIDUS II and MIDUS Refresher who completed outcome questionnaires with the Biomarker follow-up). Consistent with previous research, religiosity was associated with psychological well-being. Gratitude and social support, which themselves covaried, mediated that relation. Former or current status as a custodial grandparent was not associated with poor psychological well-being or less social support. These findings served as a replication and extension of previous research that showed gratitude may mediate the relation between religiosity and psychological well-being. Implications and limitations to this study are discussed.

Although parental religiosity generally has been associated with positive child outcomes it also has been connected to the use of corporal punishment and authoritarian parenting style. Thus, other variables must exist which influence how the interaction between religiosity and parenting practices influence child outcomes, such as regional differences (i.e., conservatism, population density, etc.). The current study expanded upon previous literature by examining maternal and paternal variables, extending the study to emerging adults, examining emerging adult gender, various religions, and different regions of the United States (i.e., Northeast, South, Midwest, West), as well as levels of conservatism and population density (i.e., urban vs rural areas). An MTURK sample asked participants to report their parents’ religiosity, parenting style, and conservatism as well as their own religiosity and region where they grew up. Structural equation modeling was used, and results indicated that parenting style moderated the relationship between parental religiosity and child outcomes and those interactions were further moderated by conservatism as well as geographic and population density regions (i.e., 3-way interaction).

Theologie made in the Philippines fällt in der europäischen Wahrnehmung durch alle Raster. Für Befreiungstheologie schlägt man bei lateinamerikanischen Theologen nach, für Religionsdialog bei indischen. Wohin hat sich die philippinische Theologie seit den Zeiten der „Theologie des Kampfes“ entwickelt, als katholische Priester Vordenker der National People’s Army waren? Im Folgenden soll die Wende hin zur „popular religiosity“ nachgezeichnet werden. Nicht behandelt werden die kirchlichen Entwicklungen wie das einflussreiche Ereignis der Philippinischen Nationalsynode 1991 und die Veröffentlichung des Philippinischen Katechismus 1997.

Evolutionary theory provides a useful framework for understanding the possible genesis and benefits of spirituality and/or religiosity. Research within psychology on Attachment and Object Relations Theory indicates congruence between the way we relate and perceive others and the way we relate to and perceive “God”. In addition research has indicated that spirituality and religiosity in general are related to better health outcomes. This study examined the possible differential benefits of using the Pennebaker Written Emotional Disclosure paradigm with or without a spiritual/religious framework. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that any incremental benefits would be moderated by attachment style and level of object relations development. This study provided no support for either a differential effect of writing instructions or for a moderating effect of attachment style or level of object relations development. Implications and suggestions for future inquiry are discussed.